Digital Trailblazer Joins Music Glue As Global Head Of Business Development

Music Glue has announced the appointment of Russel Coultart, co-founder of groundbreaking music e-commerce platform Digital Stores and former Global Head of e-commerce for Universal Music Group (UMG), to the position of Global Head of Business Development.

Russel started in the music industry in the early 1990s as a producer, recording artist and DJ before launching his own successful record label Transient Records in 1995. In 1997 he launched Recordstore.co.uk, later to become Digital Stores, one of the first artist facing e-commerce platforms in the world, with an esteemed collection of high profile clients, including The Beatles, Queen, Robbie Williams, Oasis, The Prodigy and The Pet Shop Boys, among others.

After the acquisition of Digital Stores by EMI in 2010, Russel became Vice President for Direct to Consumer (D2C) in Europe at EMI Music and, following the subsequent acquisition of EMI by UMG in 2013, he ran UMG's global e-commerce business.

Mark Meharry, Founder and CEO of Music Glue said, "When our paths crossed several months ago we instantly hit it off; which makes sense considering the time we have both operated in the same space. What I hadn't considered is that not only do Russel and I share the exact same vision for future of music retail, but also share an aligned moral compass. Russel brings to Music Glue skills, knowledge and experience rarely found in the industry and I consider his confidence in us as a genuine compliment. At Music Glue we have known for some time that our platform is a game changer; the addition of Russel will help take us to the next level."

Russel Coultart said, "I'm excited by the vision, the innovation and the ambition of Mark and his team to offer Artists and their fans the best experience possible. Music Glue have built a fantastic and truly global technology platform, purpose built for today's and the future music industry. It's by far the best music e-commerce platform I've seen."